I Am Armoured in Courage, I Need Not Your Sword
by InkheartFirebringer
Summary: 'Jess sidles closer to Sam, looking up at the other girl from under her lashes. "How would you feel about dating me?"' AU, which basically asks the question; how would the story change if Jess and Sam were a couple? Covers the night the twins went missing and the start of the main storyline. Sam/Jess obviously, with background Emily/Mike and Emily/Matt.
1. Butterflies, and Other Delicate Things

**Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn.**

 **A/N: For my sister! Who loves the Sam x Jess ship. I borrowed the title of this fic from one of her Until Dawn edits on Instagram - if you want to see the original, her account is 'untildawn DOT jess', just remove the spaces and the DOT and replace it with an actual dot since this site hates anything that looks like a link. xD**

 **The first chapter of this covers the night that Hannah and Beth went missing, and the second covers the start of the main game a year later.**

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 **I Am Armoured in Courage, I Need Not Your Sword**

 **Chapter One: Butterflies, and Other Delicate Things**

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"You can do this, Jess."

The blonde in question stares out through the glass door of the lodge's balcony and repeats the words quietly and fervently to herself. "You can do this."

The floor thuds to the bass of some techno beat and laughter drifts up the stairs. The alcohol is making her blood sing and she feels almost feverish with excitement and anticipation and nerves all at once. _Get a hold of yourself,_ she scolds mentally, although the feelings don't recede. _This isn't your first crush; you know what the hell you're doing. Get out there._

 _But this is different,_ another part of her mind points out quietly, the part making her almost sick with nerves. _This is_ _ **Sam.**_

Jess' gaze finds the other blonde unerringly. Sam sits on the far end of the balcony, just out of the snow. She's leaning on her hands and her head is tilted back, watching the white flakes whirl down; something in Jess' chest warms at the sight of her serene expression, the tiniest hint of a smile curling her lips. She wants to smooth the wayward strands of blonde hair out of Sam's face and tuck them back into place – _goddamn it, stop staring and get out there, Jess!_

Giving herself a shake, Jess slides open the door and steps out, shutting it again behind her. "Hey, Sam," she calls, grinning as the other girl visibly starts in surprise. "Nice view?"

"Oh jeez, Jess, you scared me." Sam's tone is a little bit scolding but mostly amused. Jess mentally celebrates and flashes her most winning smile as she pads over to the other blonde. Sam smiles back, an eyebrow quirking."What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," Jess says, as airily as possible. "It's just waaaay too hot in there – you have the right idea being out here. I brought you another cider," she adds, holding out one of the two bottles she's carrying.

"Oh," Sam looks surprised and pleased. "Thanks. I thought I was going to have to go all the way back downstairs to get more," she says, casting a rueful glance at the empty bottle beside her even as she accepts the new one from the other girl.

Jess folds herself down neatly next to Sam and they sip in companionable silence. She sees Sam's gaze wander further up the mountain's snow-covered slopes and asks teasingly, "Planning a hike? In this weather?"

Oddly enough, it had been hiking that had made Jess notice Sam to begin with. The other girl had proposed a trip to the Rockies to their group about a year ago; Mike had agreed immediately, and after Emily raised her eyebrows meaningfully a couple of times, Jess had volunteered herself and 'persuaded' Emily to go too. It had been, of course, a pretext for Emily to spend some time with Mike – which meant it was Jess' job to occupy Sam.

 _Ah, the things I do for friendship._ Only, it had turned out to not be much of a chore at all. The opposite in fact. An unconscious smile tugs at Jess' lips as she remembers being pleasantly surprised by Sam's fitness and dedication to the hike. She'd never spent much time with the other girl before that, not one-on-one at least, and she'd had no idea exactly how much Sam enjoyed hiking and climbing. They'd left Emily and Mike far behind on the trail and stopped at an outcropping, to eat lunch and wait for the other two to catch up; it had been there that Jess had her moment of realisation. Sam had been grinning, her eyes bright, her cheeks flushed with cold and exercise, and strands of her blonde hair escaping from her bun; Jess had been just about to take the last bite of her cheese and ham sandwich when the sun caught Sam's hair just right, making it glow, and the thought had crossed her mind – _she's beautiful._

Quiet and unceremonious and all the more startling for it; Jess had dropped the last of her sandwich in surprise at her own thoughts, and then been immediately distracted by the complete waste of a perfectly good bite of ham and cheese. Jess' distraught (and maybe slightly exaggerated) wails had made Sam double over laughing, and oh God, the laughter had made her eyes light up, she was even _more_ beautiful, that was just patently unfair, Jess' belly laugh made her sound like a braying donkey –

 _Cue Jessica sliding into a completely embarrassing crush, which after a year of fermenting feels scarily like something_ _ **more**_ _than a crush. Not to mention it's just pathetic it's taken me this long to work up the courage to actually do something about it._

Jess comes back to the present in time to hear Sam reply, "Well, the storm's due to clear tomorrow – if it does, I might go for a wander. You wanna come, hiking buddy?"

Her teasing smile does funny things to Jess' heart and wow, was it hot out here all of a sudden? "Sure," she smiles back, adding a touch of flirtatiousness. "You know I love exploring with you." She was becoming quite the adept at both climbing and hiking now, with the amount of time she was spending with Sam.

Sam is about to reply when a sudden burst of muffled laughter and whooping is audible through the floorboards. "Chris and Josh are such idiots," she says with a fond smile.

"I doubt that's them; when I left to come up here they looked on the verge of passing out," Jess says, rolling her eyes. "I think Emily and Mike are doing shots now. It looked serious – I don't think Emily will forgive Mike if he wins."

Sam shakes her head. "I've never understood their relationship. But if it makes them happy, that's what counts, I guess."

"Yeah…" Jess' chest gives a painful little twinge. "Speaking of which…"

Sam's looking at her now, head tilted inquisitively, and Jess summons all of her courage (because, damnit, she's always prided herself on being brave and she's not going to put this off any more than she already has) and slides closer to Sam, looking up at the other girl from under her lashes. "How would you feel about dating me?"

The words are out there, floating in the wind, as brazen as Jess can make them when her heart is in her throat. Sam blinks, looking absolutely stunned. The breeze stirs the strands of blonde hair around her face; her hazel eyes are wide with surprise. "I –" her voice cracks and she clears her throat. "I –"

Jess forces her smile to remain bright and flirty, despite the way it feels like a fist is closing around her heart. "Ah – if you're not interested, it's okay. I –" She starts to move away a little, wanting to retreat to nurse her wounds in private, when Sam's hand shoots out and closes around her wrist.

"No, wait!" the other blonde blurts out, looking panicked. "I didn't mean – I wasn't expecting – I like you too, damnit!" Jess can only stare and Sam flushes scarlet. "I didn't think – didn't think you'd ever be interested. I didn't even know you swung that way."

The relief and joy flooding through her makes Jess' grin come out twice as blinding as normal. And twice as suggestive. "Oh darling, why on earth would I restrict myself to one gender? It's a big world out there and there's a lot of beautiful people, men and women. But –" she shifts closer and flutters her eyelashes exaggeratedly. "None as beautiful as you."

Sam bursts out laughing, just as Jess had intended and she beams smugly at her success. "That was awful," Sam says, her eyes creased at the corners with laughter.

"I know," Jess admits shamelessly, shifting even closer. Her heart is lighter than it's ever been and Sam is _here_ and watching her out of hazel eyes, warm with amusement, and she's not moving away. "I mean it though. You're beautiful. And clever. And strong. And –"

Sam huffs. "Okay, okay, I get it. You're not bad yourself." The light in her eyes says she's teasing and Jess wonders if it's possible to die from overwhelming happiness, even as she opens her mouth to protest in mock-indignation –

And is promptly silenced when Sam pulls her in for a kiss. Jess freezes for a moment, taken by surprise, before she relaxes into the kiss. Sam is warm and soft and her lips taste faintly of strawberries and cider; after a few seconds, Jess gives into temptation and reaches up to pull out the other girl's hairband. Blonde hair falls in shining waves around her face and Sam makes a brief noise of surprise, before Jess runs her fingers gently through the other girl's hair and the noise turns into a contented purr.

The rush of heat Jess feels at the sound actually makes her weak at the knees and she spares a brief moment to be thankful she's already sitting down, before fully devoting her attention to the girl in front of her.

Jess honestly has no idea how much time passes before the sound of a door slamming loudly makes them jerk away from each other, startled. Jess is pleased (part of her near purring in satisfaction actually) to see Sam looking so dazed, hair ruffled, lips reddened and eyes unfocused in pleasure. She's actually on the verge of reaching out and pulling the other blonde into another kiss, when the bang of another door slamming open echoes up to them.

"You _jerks!_ " Beth's shout is loud and ringing. "Hannah! _Hannah!"_

"What the hell?" Sam is rapidly losing her unfocused look, much to Jess' displeasure.

"Damnit," she sighs, climbing to her feet and offering Sam her hand. As much as she'd like to let the others sort out their own messes, she knows Sam's conscious won't let her sit up here and kiss Jess silly when there is clearly some sort of fight going on downstairs. _It's one of the things I like so much about her, even if it's incredibly inconvenient right now._ "Can we come back up later, once things are sorted out?"

Sam flashes her a cheeky smile and Jess is so distracted by the sight she nearly trips over one of the potted plants on the balcony. "Of course. I'm looking forward to continuing our conversation." Her smile turns a shade more mischievous and flirtatious and Jess nearly swallows her tongue in shock because she's never seen Sam flirt, ever.

"So am I," Jess manages to purr back and Sam laughs before slipping inside. Jess follows, so happy that it almost hurts.

(In the morning, when the police arrive and the warmth that they shared on the balcony feels like a distant memory, Sam's hand still finds Jess' as they wait to be interviewed, and some part of Jess can't help but be selfishly glad that something good at least came out of what turned out to be one of the worst nights of their lives.)

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 **A/N: Thanks for reading! The second part will be up immediately (for once xD). If you liked, please leave me a comment. :) Thanks again!**


	2. The Long Night

**Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn.**

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 **I Am Armoured in Courage, I Need Not Your Sword**

 **Chapter Two: The Long Night**

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"This is going to be hellish," Sam murmurs as they step out of the cable car station.

Jess huffs, giving her girlfriend's hand a squeeze. "Most likely," she agrees brightly. "After all, some of our group only indirectly caused the death of Josh's sisters the last time we were on this mountain and some of us still aren't over it. Not to mention it basically caused Mike and Emily to break up, and now that Emily and Matt are dating –"

"What?" Sam sounds startled. "Since when?"

"Oh, Em texted me yesterday morning." Jess raises an eyebrow. "I…take it she didn't tell anyone else then?"

"Nope." Sam shakes her head, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Guess you're still her BFF."

Jess huffs a little. Her and Emily's relationship had also suffered in the wake of the ill-fated prank, although it had been steadily recovering over the past few months. The same guilt and grief that had broken her relationship with Mike had made Emily retreat into herself, becoming even more snappish and irritable than usual. It had taken several months of patient waiting (she knew Emily's moods like the back of her hand and how best to handle her friend when she was like this) for Emily to contact her again, like a cranky turtle coming out of its shell.

"Yeah, well," she mutters, unconsciously tightening her grip on Sam's hand. "That was some stupid shit they did." What was worse was that she knew herself; if she hadn't been on the balcony with Sam, she would have taken part herself. Maybe even instigated it. She had a vindictive streak a mile wide, that only increased the more she was drunk, and Hannah's not-so-subtle longing looks at her best friend's boyfriend had always scraped down her nerves like nails on a chalkboard.

"Hey." Sam stops and turns to face her girlfriend. "Stopping beating yourself up over something you didn't do." She brushes gentle fingers down the side of Jess' face and the other girl shivers a little at the heat that trails in their wake.

Jess makes a noncommittal noise, even as her hand sneaks up to catch Sam's hand and twine their fingers together. "It's just – part of me is mad at her for doing it, but it feels so hypocritical because I know what I'm like – that could have easily been me that night –"

"But it wasn't," Sam reminds her gently. "Now c'mon, I'm freezing," she adds lightly. "Let's get up to the lodge before we get frostbite."

Jess grins and sidles closer, letting her girlfriend distract her from her morose thoughts. "Don't worry Sam, I'll keep you warm," she purrs, threading her arm through the other blonde's.

Sam's laughter echoes through the darkness and snow-laden pines. "You're impossible," she says, her voice warm and fond, and Jess' answering grin is blindingly bright.

 _Maybe this won't be so bad after all._

xxx

"You son of a bitch –!"

" _Hey!_ What the hell is wrong with you two?"

Josh forces Mike and Matt apart, and Sam feels her heart clench in sympathy at the look of weary hurt and disbelief on his face. "We came back here to have a good time, right?"

He eyes the two combatants and then turns to Matt, rummaging in his pockets. "Here." He produces a key and hands it to Matt. "Why don't you and Emily go check out the guest cabin I was telling you about?"

"Yeah," Matt straightens his jacket, still scowling a little. "Yeah, sure."

The standoff is broken and with it, the tension; Sam feels Jess relax a little beside her. "Well, shit," the other blonde surmises in an undertone, watching as Emily and Matt leave. "I didn't expect to be right so quickly."

Sam sighs, wishing that their prediction hadn't been so accurate. She shivered a little, aware of how cold it still was in the lodge – they were out of the wind but the air was still freezing. "Hey," she murmurs. "Want to go for a bath?"

Jess' eyes light up. "Why, Sam," she purrs, slinking closer and wrapping her arms around the other girl. "I thought you'd never ask."

Despite her best efforts, Sam feels her cheeks flush pink at Jess' provocative tone. "You know, I used to just think of baths as the best way to relax ever. I can never look at them the same way again thanks to you." The accusation in her voice is half-hearted at best and Jess' grin widens knowingly.

"Oh Sam, they're _still_ the best way to relax ever," she murmurs, brushing her lips over the sensitive skin behind Sam's ear, making her shiver. "I just…put a different spin on it, is all."

"Minx," Sam mutters, not even bothering to hide her smile and Jess laughs, bright and carefree.

"Hey, Josh, we're going to run a bath," the other blonde calls cheerfully and runs up the stairs, tugging Sam behind her.

"Oh? Do you girls need any help with that?" he calls after them, voice laden with amusement.

Jess mock-growls. "Paws off, Washington. Find your own girlfriend, Sam's mine."

An exaggerated sigh echoes after them. "Oh well. Worth a shot."

Not five minutes later, Jess is dragging Sam _back_ down the stairs. "Hey, Josh, what gives? The hot water's not working."

Josh sits back on his heels from where he's trying to start the fire and wipes the back of his hand across his forehead. "Ah, sorry, I forgot about that. You know where the boiler is in the basement, right Sam?"

"Sure, I can handle it," Sam says, amused by Jess' pouting at the delay.

"Oh, and if you could turn on the generator too, that would be great." Josh gives her a winning smile and she rolls her eyes. "It's further back –"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sam smiles. "Further back, down the corridor, to the left, right?"

"You got it." Josh gives her a lazy salute. "And if you bump into Chris and Ashley, tell them to hurry up with the spirit board."

"You're playing with a spirit board?" Sam isn't sure what to think of that.

"Sure. That's what this trip is all about, isn't it? Having fun and doing the stupid shit we've always done together." Something like grief darkens Josh's face for a moment, before he makes a visible effort to smile again. "Anyway, once Mike gets back with more logs, Chris and Ash get back with the spirit board, and you two turn on the boiler and the generator we'll get this party started." He grins broadly, a spark of his old mischief lighting his eyes. "Are you sure we can't persuade you lovely ladies to join us?"

"Maybe later, Josh," Jess says, tugging on Sam's hand and blowing him a kiss in farewell. "Right now, there's a gorgeous bath upstairs calling our names."

He laughs as they jog down the stairs to the basement. Once they're in it doesn't take Sam long to locate the boiler; she's spent a great deal of time at the Washingtons' lodge, although never without Hannah and Beth. A lump forms in her throat as she remembers the three of them down here in their pyjamas, all of nine years old and giggling at their own daring in exploring the dark, spooky basement.

 _Not now, Sam._ She focuses on remembering how to switch the boiler on and with Jess' help, the big metal beast wheezes into life with series of clunks and groans, before settling into a low mechanical rumble.

"One down, one to go." Jess dusts off her hands and swings the cabinet door closed. "Where to next?"

Sam leads her through the maze of interconnecting rooms, trying her best to remember the way. Eventually they find the generator room and step inside and Sam frowns at the sight before them. "What the hell…?"

The generator is more or less how she remembers it; what draws her attention is the small bank of television screens on the left hand side of the room. She walks over to it, still frowning.

"What's wrong?" Jess is close at her side, a hand gently resting on her arm.

"These weren't here before –"

Sam is cut off mid-sentence as the door slams shut behind them and they both yelp in surprise and fright, whirling to face it. A deep, electronic chuckle rolls through the room. _"Welcome back to Blackwood, my special little subjects."_

"What the _fuck_?" Jess snarls, backing away. Sam searches the room with frantic eyes, trying to find the hidden speakers, even as she seeks Jess' hand with her own. The other blonde grips her hand tight, all but vibrating with tension. "Who are you? What the hell are you _doing_?"

The laugh comes again, distorted through some sort of modulator. _"See for yourself."_

The monitors flicker on and Sam feels sick to her stomach. One monitor shows Ashley and Chris sitting at the coffee table in front of a fire crackling in the hearth, throwing golden light across them as they set up the spirit board. Another shows Josh in the kitchen, padding about as he makes up four mugs of hot chocolate. The next is Mike knocking the snow off his boots outside the front door of the lodge, a basket of logs next to him on the porch. And the last is…Sam averts her eyes abruptly, feel her face flush hotly in a mixture of embarrassment and outrage.

" _Pervert!"_ Jess snarls, as Sam tries not to look at Matt and Emily twined together on the couch in the guest cabin, clothes scattered on the floor around them, firelight playing across their bare skin.

The voice only laughs. _"We'll talk again soon, Jessica, Samantha."_ There's a click and the TV screens abruptly go black.

Sam can only stand, frozen in place, her heart beating too rapidly in her chest with shock and fear. "I don't understand,"Jess mutters, unknowingly echoing Sam's thoughts as her grip tightens on her girlfriend's hand. "Who _is_ this guy? What the _hell_ is going on?"

"Good question," Sam murmurs, staring at the blank screens and trying to supress the feeling of sick dread rising in her stomach. "Though I get the feeling we might be about to find out."

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 **A/N: Done! ^_^ I could write out the full night but I don't have the patience for such a long rehash. In case you're wondering, I envision the night playing out as follows: Sam and Jess witness Chris being forced to make the decision between Ash and Josh, and then see Josh die through the TV screens. The door then unlocks and they race off to find a traumatised Chris and Ash. They subsequently discover that Mike is missing and Chris and Ash haven't seen him since Josh sent him off to get logs (Josh gassed him, tied him up and locked him in one of the guest bedrooms). They split up – Chris and Ash to look for Mike; Sam and Jess to hike up to the nearby fire tower, which Sam knows has a way to contact the nearest ranger station.**

 **Chris and Ash can't find Mike and are herded via Josh's remotely operated doors down into the basement; meanwhile, Sam and Jess fall into the mines via the usual wendigo-initiated fire tower collapse. Sam tries her best to pull her up but Jess falls anyway; distraught, Sam utilises her mad climbing skills to begin a slow, dangerous descent down into chasm after her. She finds Jess, miraculously mostly unhurt, and helps her less-experienced-at-climbing-but-still-competent girlfriend climb back up to the place they fell down from.**

 **After a great deal of wandering around trying to find their way out of the mines, they find an unconscious and mostly naked Emily at the bottom of an elevator shaft. She wakes up and a great deal of bitching and fussing ensues as they help Emily slowly limp along with them, during which Jess and a shaken-but-not-stirred Emily have some re-bonding time. They eventually run into Matt, who (being more level-headed than Mike) didn't pursue the Stranger in a heated fit of grief-stricken revenge but instead climbed down into the mines to look for Emily despite being 90% sure she was dead. Then they discover that Emily's claims of a monster dragging her off aren't the result of a head wound and pandemonium ensues. All four eventually do make it outside though, and survive until dawn.**

 **Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Chris and Ashley unwilling undergo their game of Russian roulette and Josh reveals he is the psycho. Chris manages to undo the bindings with his free hand and get loose, then demands to know where everyone else is. The only person Josh knows about is Mike, tied up upstairs, and in a fit of rage Chris knocks Josh out. He and Ashley tie Josh up in the basement and leave to find Mike.**

 **They eventually locate an awake and furious Mike and let him out, before filling him in. Then the Stranger shows up and tells them about the Wendigo. They don't believe him (seeing as none of them were in the mines/saw anything other Josh's shenanigans) and leave to look for Sam/Jess/Matt/Emily. They encounter the wendigo and change their minds in a hurry, narrowly being saved from certain death by the Stranger. He dumps them back at the lodge and tells them to lock themselves in the basement and stay there until dawn.**

 **They do – and everyone survives. Including the Stranger. ^_^**

 **I hope you enjoyed, please let me know if you did. :)**


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